Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban is a fantasy film based on the third novel by J. K. Rowling. It is the third film in the Harry Potter film series. It was directed by Alfonso Cuarón and produced by David Heyman, Chris Columbus, the director of the first two films and Mark Radcliffe. It was the first film to be using IMAX Technology only on IMAX Cinemas .It was also the first film to take the franchise a darker turn. It includes the basic plot of the book; however, the story centers around the difficulties of becoming an adolescent.

Harry journeys to Hogwarts with his best friends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger; they are now entering their third year. On the train they share a compartment with the new Defence Against the Dark Artsteacher, Remus Lupin, who is sleeping when they enter the compartment. Abruptly, the Hogwarts Express is stopped and a Dementor boards, searching for Black. The creature has a profound effect on Harry, causing him to faint. Lupin awakens and repels the Dementor. At school, HeadmasterAlbus Dumbledore informs the Hogwarts students that because Black has escaped, Dementors have been set up around the school as a protection. The trio also begins a new class, Divination taught by Sybill Trelawney. When they read their tea leaves, Trelawney tells Harry she sees that Harry has the Grim. In addition to Lupin's appointment, Hagrid is announced as the new Care of Magical Creatures teacher. As lessons begin, Hermione frequently arrives at their various classes by appearing out of nowhere. Lupin's lessons prove enjoyable, as he teaches useful spells and helps less confident students like Neville Longbottom. However Hagrid's Care of Magical Creatures class does not go as planned, and on the first day, Draco Malfoy deliberately provokes the HippogriffBuckbeak into attacking him. His father successfully has Buckbeak sentenced to death. Later, third year students are allowed to go to Hogsmeade, but since Harry's uncle Vernon did not sign his letter of permission, he stays talking with Lupin, who says that he knew Harry's parents, and they were two great individuals.

Returning to the Gryffindor Tower, they find the Fat Lady's portrait empty, having been attacked. Dumbledore and the school CaretakerArgus Filch find the Fat Lady in another portrait, completely scared. She says that Sirius Black has entered the castle, and wanted to enter Gryffindor Tower. Dumbledore sends all the students to sleep in the Great Hall, in which Professor Snape says to Dumbledore that the appointment of a teacher may had been dangerous. Dumbledore denies this, though both think that Harry may be in danger. Later, in a Defence Against The Dark Arts class, Snape substitutes Lupin, saying that he's "incapable of teaching". He teaches them about werewolves and animagi. An Animagus is a human who can turn into another animal and back into human when they choose. They can turn into only one animal.

During a Quidditch match, several Dementors approach Harry, causing him to fall off his broomstick; Dumbledore slows his descent. Harry then decides to learn how to fight the Dementors. Lupin says he will teach him, but after the holidays, since he feels sick. Near Christmas, Harry attempts to sneak to Hogsmeade without permission, but is caught by Fred and George Weasley, who give him the Marauder's Map so that he can enter the village through a secret passage. At Hogsmeade, Harry overhears that Black was his godfather and his parents' best friend. Black is said to have divulged the Potters' secret whereabouts to Voldemort and murdered their mutual friend Peter Pettigrew. Harry says to his friends that is looking forward to kill Black.

The holidays pass, and Lupin teaches Harry the spell to conjure a Patronus, a 'shield' or 'force' that can repel a Dementor. A Patronus is the opposite of a Dementor which breeds on unhappy thoughts and bad memories. The happier the thought used to cast the spell, the more powerful the Patronus. After several tries, Harry manages to create a Patronus. One night, Harry is using the Marauder's Map, and he sees Pettigrew's name. Going where he's supposed to be, he sees no one, but is caught by Snape. Lupin appears and sees the map, he then gets Harry away. In his classroom, he says to Harry that is very irresponsible of him to wander around with the map. Before leaving, Harry says that the map may not be working properly - he has seen Pettigrew's name on it, despite the fact that he's supposed to be dead. Lupin says that it's not possible, and stays looking at the map, quietly.

In Divination class, after everyone's gone, Professor Trelawney enters into a trance while Harry's there and predicts that the Dark Lord's servant will return to his master that night. Harry, Ron and Hermione visit Hagrid to console him over Buckbeak's impending execution. While there, Ron discovers his rat, Scabbers, who had disappeared earlier in the year, and whom Ron had believed to be dead. While the trio is chasing Scabbers, a large dog drags both Ron and and the rat into a hole at the base of the Whomping Willow. Harry and Hermione follow, finding a tunnel leading to the Shrieking Shack. The dog is revealed to be Sirius Black, who is an Animagus. Lupin arrives as well and upon seeing Scabbers, embraces Sirius as an old friend. After being confronted by Hermione, Lupin admits to being a werewolf. Snape appears, planning to catch Black and Lupin and hand them over to the Dementors, but is knocked out by Harry. Lupin and Black explain that Scabbers is actually Peter Pettigrew in his Animagus form. Everything that Black is accused was actually Pettigrew and the pair force Pettigrew back into his human form. Lupin and Sirius prepare to kill Pettigrew but are stopped by Harry, who tells them that it was not what James would have done. As the group head back to the castle the full moon rises, causing Lupin to transform and Pettigrew to escape. Lupin and Sirius fight in their animal forms, until Lupin is distracted, and Sirius and Harry are attacked by Dementors. As Sirius is Kissed and his soul is hanging out of his mouth, Dementors close in on him and Harry, who are ready to take Sirius's soul and Kiss Harry as well, Harry sees a figure in the distance cast a powerful stag-shaped Patronus, scattering the Dementors and saving their lives.

Dementors closing in on Sirius & Harry, not yet aware of the charging stag Patronus.

Harry wakes in the hospital wing and Hermione tells Harry that the dementors were going to kiss Sirius and Dumbledore arrives, telling them how to save Sirius, Hermione reveals that she possesses a Time-Turner, which is how she has been taking multiple classes at once. She and Harry travel back in time three hours, watching themselves go through the night's events. They set Buckbeak free and return to the Whomping Willow. As the Dementors are about to attack the "other" Harry and Sirius, Harry realizes that the person he saw was actually him and casts the Patronus. Harry and Hermione rescue a captured Sirius and give him Buckbeak to escape on, as time equals out again. At the end of the year, Lupin resigns, knowing that people will not allow a werewolf to teach their children. Later, Sirius sends Harry a Firebolt, an extremely fast racing broom.

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

Theatrical running time is 143mins

NO Extended Cut

Differences between novel and film

The film starts with Harry performing the "Lumos Maxima" Spell, well aware of the Restrictions of Underage Wizards and did not receive any warnings; every time he does it, Uncle Vernon would come to see what was happening and Harry would hide under the covers. In the book, Harry uses a simple torch. Lumos Maxima is later used in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.

The film does not start out with Harry receiving birthday presents from his friends and Harry does not find out about the Weasley's visit to Egypt until he gets to the Leaky Cauldron.

In the book, at the dinner party, Aunt Marge allows Ripper to drink tea off of a saucer. In the film, she allows him a drink of brandy from her glass.

In the book, Aunt Marge stays for a couple of nights before she gets blown up. The film makes it seem she blows up the same day she visits.

Also in the book, Marge only floats up to the ceiling, while in the film she uncontrollably floats out of the house, later to be found circling a chimney in Sheffield.

In the book, Harry pretends to be Neville Longbottom while on the Knight Bus, running from the Ministry of Magic. In the film, Harry doesn't pretend to be Neville; however, his identity is still kept secret.

The film makers added Shrunken Heads that have the ability to talk, probably to add humour. So far these creatures have been unique to this film only. In an interview on the DVD release, J.K. Rowling said the addition of the shrunken heads had her full support, and she only wished she'd thought of them herself.

During the dementor's attack in the book, Ginny and Neville were in the same compartment with Harry, Ron and Hermione. In the film, neither visit the trio.

The Hogwarts choir doesn't exist in the book and the director only added it for the film.

The Sorting Ceremony is omitted from the film along with the scenes of McGonagall calling away Harry and Hermione prior to the start of the ceremony to have Madam Pomfrey examine Harry after his experience with the Dementors on the Hogwarts Express, and also for McGonagall to give Hermione the Time-Turner in secret causing both of them to miss the ceremony.

When the Gryffindors and Slytherins go to their first Care of Magical Creatures lesson in the book there are many Hippogriffs, but in the film it is only Buckbeak.

When Harry rides on Buckbeak in the film, they fly all the way to the Hogwarts lake; in the book, they fly only once around the paddock in the Forbidden Forest.

While the book has Peeves describe Sirius Black's attack on the Fat Lady's portrait after learning about this from her when he saw her in a portrait on the fourth floor, in the film it was the Fat Lady herself that described the attack from a nearby portrait.

The origins of the Marauder's Map are not revealed in the film. The whole storyline of the Marauders is left out, including that James was an Animagus that transformed into a stag. However, in the film Harry still makes the connection between the stag and his dad. Potential continuity errors are avoided in later films when Voldemort refers to Pettigrew as "Wormtail" in the dream Harry witnesses (in Goblet Of Fire) and "Mad-Eye" Moody refers to Sirius as "Padfoot" in front of Harry (in Order Of The Phoenix), which allows for Harry to know their nicknames. In the film Sirius shows knowledge of the map stating that the map never lies.

Like in the previous films the majority of the Quidditch season was cut out, aside from the first match. The game where Harry sees Marcus Flint, Crabbe, Goyle and Malfoy disguised as Dementors and the game where Gryffindor wins the Quidditch Cup were omitted. Consequently, Cho Chang, Harry's future girlfriend, does not appear until the next film.

In the book the rain during the Hufflepuff Quidditch match makes it difficult for Harry to see until Hermione casts Impervius on his glasses, In the film, the Quidditch players wear goggles.

Also in the book, Harry falls off his broom and Cedric catches the Snitch. In the film, he is struck by lightning and Harry falls off his broom, leaving the Snitch apparently uncaught. Also in the film, Katie Bell crashes after her broom catches fire which never occurred in the books.

In the book, Harry sees the Grim in the Stands watching him. Whereas in the film, Harry flies high into the sky, and instead sees a cloud shaped like the Grim. In the game Harry sees it in the stands like in the book.

In the book, Harry received his Firebolt for Christmas right after his Nimbus 2000 was destroyed. Eventually, Sirius Black revealed he had sent the broom. In the film, Harry receives the Firebolt at the end of the film, and although there was no note, Harry knew that Black had sent it after seeing one of Buckbeak's feathers enclosed with it.

Crookshanks' role is almost entirely removed. His friendship with Padfoot, and his role in the Shrieking Shack were completely cut.

In the book, Harry and Ron get in a huge argument with Hermione because of the problems she caused towards their possessions (Harry's Firebolt and Ron's rat Scabbers), until Hagrid set them straight about their selfishness. In the film most of this is omitted, except for some of Ron's initial arguments with Hermione which didn't go as far as the book.

The film has scenes that suggest a growing romance between Ron and Hermione. During their first Care of Magical Creatures class, Hermione grasps Ron's hand when Harry goes up to Buckbeak, which surprises him. Later on in Hogsmeade, they stare at the Shrieking Shack with Ron confusing Hermione's dialogue when she spoke of "getting closer" to the Shack.

The film omits the part where Hermione, and later Ron (once he and Harry settle their dispute with her) help Hagrid prepare his defence for Buckbeak's trial.

In the film, the part where Sirius tries to kill Wormtail disguised as a rat in the middle of the night is omitted.

Sir Cadogan's part is mostly omitted except briefly when Ginny says the Fat Lady's gone. His role of replacing the Fat Lady as Gryffindor's portrait is only shown as a deleted scene.

In the film, Harry's two visits to Hogsmeade are combined into a single trip. So in the film, Harry throws snowballs at Draco and his cronies while under the Invisibility Cloak. In the novel, he throws mud-balls. The scene is also extended, with Harry also pantsing and kicking Crabbe's backside, pulling Pike's hat over his eyes and swinging him around by his scarf, and dragging Malfoy away by his feet. Omitted from the film is the hood of the cloak falling off Harry's head causing Malfoy to learn of Harry's unauthorized visit.

In the book Ron and Hermione were with Harry when he eavesdropped on Fudge's conversation with a few of Hogwarts staff in the Three Broomsticks Inn about Sirius Black and his connection with James Potter. In the film Harry was alone as the Inn forbade under-age wizards from entering the pub that day. Also in the film Harry snuck in using his Invisibility Cloak, while in the book he hid underneath Ron and Hermione's table as he did not bring the cloak during his first visit to Hogsmeade.

While the book had Fudge's conversation at one of the tables in the Three Broomsticks Inn, the film had the conversation moved to a private room to which only Fudge, Madame Rosmerta, and Minerva McGonagall were present aside from Harry who was hidden with his Invisibility Cloak.

In the film, after finding out Sirius was his godfather and had betrayed his parents Harry was furiously angry and swore he would kill Sirius if he ever attacked him. In the book, Harry was both angry and depressed by this information along with the fact that many people knew about it but chose not to tell him and Harry suffered for days with recurring nightmares in his sleep before being able to overcome it.

In the novel, a small Christmas feast is held with only thirteen people, at which Sybill Trelawney predicts that "the first to rise shall be the first to die". This is omitted from the film.

In the novel, while trying to make the Marauder's Map "reveal its secrets", Snape tries once and fails. He then tries again with different words and it fails. He tries once more, again with different words, and it finally insults him. In the film, he only tries once and it insults him.

In the film, the "Snape's Grudge" scene shows Snape catching Harry in the hallway after he saw Pettigrew's name one night on the Marauder's map and went to find him. In the book, the "Snape's Grudge" scene describes Snape catching Harry in the hall right after he climbed up the One-Eyed Witch's hump after being seen by Malfoy in Hogsmeade. Both versions of "Snape's Grudge" end the same---Lupin covers for Harry and then takes the map into his possession. Ron was also present in the book to help cover for Harry due to the Zonko products Snape found on Harry.

In the film, after seeing Pettigrew's name on the map, he says this to Lupin. In the book, Harry never saw Pettigrew's name on it, and Lupin was the one who saw Pettigrew's name after acquiring the map and using it on the same day as Buckbeak's execution, since he knew Harry, Ron, Hermione would visit Hagrid that day. These events are what caused Lupin to believe that Sirius is innocent.

In the book, when Professor Snape is insulted by the Marauder's Map, every Marauder says something different to Professor Snape, with Lupin saying the bit about Snape minding his own business. In the movie, however, that is all that the map says.

In the book, it is revealed in the Shrieking Shack, how Harry's father, James saved Snape's life during their time at Hogwarts as students, which was Sirius's idea of a joke, telling Snape about the tunnel under the Whomping Willow and how to access it. However, in the film, the joke is never mentioned nor James saving Snape's life.

As the identities of the Marauders are not revealed until the fourth and fifth films, it causes a bit of confusion as to why Snape has such a hatred towards Sirius and Lupin in the third for those who have not read the books. In the novel, Snape is as eager to hand over Lupin to the dementors as well as Sirius, despite the fact that there is not any evidence supporting Snape's claim that Lupin was helping Sirius into the castle, which he was not.

In the film, Lupin pleads with Snape while Sirius continues to insult him. Snape is more calm, confronting the two, as apposed to the book, where he seems to be mad and even more reluctant to listen, as he bounds and gags Lupin, threatens Hermione with suspension and states that Harry deserved to be killed by Sirius.

In the book, during his first anti-dementor lesson, Harry tries to ward off the dementor twice unsuccessfully before succeeding. But in the film, he only tries once unsuccessfully before succeeding. Also, Harry's memory in the book that works is the memory of how happy he was that he would be leaving the Dursleys. In the film, he uses a made-up memory of his parents.

In the novel, Hermione slaps Malfoy and he reacts passively. In the film, this is slightly extended. Instead, Hermione first draws her wand on Malfoy, and then punches him in the nose, in both situations he acts cowardly.

In the book, Ron is generally depicted as being brave and heroic under stress while Hermione was depicted as being nervous, terrified/frightened. In the movie, Ron's bravery was transferred to Hermione and Hermione's nervousness/terror was transferred to Ron.

In the movie, Ron saw Sirius/Padfoot appear and pointed the dog out to Harry and Hermione in a quivering, frightened tone of voice. No such bit appeared in the book.

In the film, Sirius in his animagus form had grabbed Ron by the leg and broken it in the process while dragging him off to the Shrieking Shack. In the book, Sirius had grabbed him by the arm instead and that Ron's leg was broken when he tried to use one of the Whomping Willow's roots to hold them in place to avoid being dragged off only for the pressure to break his leg.

The following text appears in the book, after Harry and Hermione find Ron and Sirius in the Shreaking Shack: Ron spoke to Black. "If you want to kill Harry, you'll have to kill us too!" he said fiercely, though the effort of standing upright was draining him of more colour, and he swayed slightly as he spoke. In the movie, the line was spoken by Hermione while Ron remained in the corner and did not say or do anything.

In the book Harry, Ron, and Hermione all try and disarm Snape at the same time, causing him to hit against the wall and go unconscious. In the film it is only Harry who does this. Ron and Hermione are actually shocked Harry did this, as Snape is a teacher.

In the books, a transformed werewolf is described as looking almost like a true wolf except for a few subtle differences like the shape of the snout and tail and the eyes. However in the film a transformed werewolf looks more like the anthropomorphic versions from other werewolf films.

In the book, Snape had been unconscious because of the spell cast by Hermione, Ron, and Harry and had to be suspended in mid-air by magic to be brought out of the Shrieking Shack. He was not there to protect Hermione, Ron, and Harry when Lupin transformed into a werewolf, but in the film, Snape suddenly gained consciousness and he protected Harry, Ron, and Hermione from Lupin. In the book Snape gains consciousness only after Sirius and Harry become unconscious because of the Dementors.

In the book Hermione rescues Sirius Black with "Alohomora," but in the film, she uses "Bombarda", a spell made up for the films. In the french adaptation of the movie, the spell "Alohomora" is used, instead of Bombarda.

In the book, Hermione is with Harry and Sirius when they are attacked by the Dementors. In the film, she stays behind with Ron.

In the film, when Harry and Hermione go back in time, Hermione throws an ammonites fossil at Harry to get his attention, so he can see Fudge and Macnair coming to Hagrid's hut. Hermione later howls like a wolf to call Lupin away from fighting Padfoot, in turn causing him to come after them instead, at which point they are rescued by Buckbeak. In the novel, neither of these two events occur.

In the book, Harry is alone when saving himself, Hermione, and Sirius from the Dementors due to Hermione and Buckbeak being in Hagrid's empty cabin when they went there to hide after Lupin transformed to avoid for Lupin to attack them and Harry went out to scout ahead. In the film, Hermione is with Harry.

In the film, when Harry and Hermione go back to the hospital wing after saving Sirius Black and Buckbeak, Ron is already awake and asks how he and Hermione got outside the wing, when they were right in front of him. In the novel, Ron is still sleeping when Harry and Hermione get back.

In addition to Ron being asleep, the novel also has a part where Snape is talking to Dumbledore about Sirius Black escaping, and it being Harry's fault. This is omitted from the film.

The part of Ron receiving the owlPigwidgeon from Sirius Black to replace Scabbers has been omitted. This caused a continuity error with the following films where Ron was seen with him, without any explanation on how he got an owl.

The letter addressed to Harry that Sirius sent with Pigwidgeon which gave him visitation rights to enter Hogsmeade was omitted. This caused some continuity errors in the following films of Harry being able to enter Hogsmeade freely.

The part where Harry meets his Uncle Vernon on the platform in Kings Cross station is omitted in which he tells his uncle that he has a Godfather, who has escaped from wizard prison.

Many students appear in the film in classes with Harry and other named parts, more than originally sorted into each house with over ten Gryffindors in one scene alone, despite the fact Harry's year has only eight Gryffindors.

In the film, after Hermione storms out of the Divination lesson from being insulted by Trelawney, on her way out, she knocks a Crystal ball off the table and it rolls down the Divination Stairwell. Harry notices it on his way out and decides to take it back to the classroom. He then finds Trelawney in a trance and it is here where she tells him a prophecy. In the book her trance takes place during Harry's Exam.

Differences from earlier films in the series

The film's logo, from the closing credits, appearing on the Marauder's Map.

Most wands have taken different shapes.

Whenever a spell is cast in the film, a faint whistling can be heard. This is the only film in which spells make this noise.

The Harry Potter logo itself has changed. The tail of the "y" is longer and extends further to the left. The "P" lightning bolt is longer. The logo has an overall silver colour whereas the logos of the two previous films were gold.

This is the first and only film not to feature the title in clouds.

It is the only film that uses a technique where black iris fade in and fade out for scene transactions (which is a similar technique used in silent films).

In the single most noticeable change of cast, Michael Gambon now plays Dumbledore, following the death of Richard Harris who played the wizard in the first two films. Gambon's portrayal in this and future films is of a more robust and eccentric wizard. The films have made no attempt to reconcile the change in Dumbledore's appearance and demeanour, although given the concept of the series, it is not impossible to do so (Rowling, for her part, did not suggest any change of appearance in Dumbledore in the books she wrote after the part was recast). One change noted several times on the associated DVD featurettes is that Gambon plays Dumbledore with a more pronounced Irish accent than his predecessor, who was also Irish. (Coincidentally, Gambon's very first film role was as an unnamed bit character in Laurence Olivier's 1965 version of Othello, which starred Maggie Smith as the female lead.)

The Whomping Willow is in a different location than it was in Chamber of Secrets; in the earlier film, the Willow was very close to the school and inside the Training Grounds. In this film, the willow is a considerable distance from the school, on the side of a slope and amidst rocky terrain.

The floating candles in the enchanted ceiling of the Great Hall look melted and most of them float in groups and are irregular in sizes. In the previous two films, each of the candles float tall and with enough distance from the other.

The Hogwarts uniforms have changed; in the first two films, the students wore plain black robes with thick striped ties, and in the third film and onward, they wear robes with coloured hoods and pinstripe ties, in addition to the rest of the uniform being darkened.

Professor Flitwick was not cast in this film. Instead, his actor, Warwick Davis, appeared as the choir conductor (credited only as "wizard"). In Goblet of Fire, Davis was again credited as Flitwick, but retained the appearance of the choir conductor.

This is the first film to feature specialized closing credits. The ones in this film are made to look like the Marauders map with the cast names accompanied by the "footsteps".

Character Omissions

Mistakes

In the scene where Harry, Ron and Hermione go to Hagrid to talk about Buckbeak's fate, Harry is sitting. As Hagrid says he's been put to death, you can see Harry standing up and walking to the others. However, in the next shot, he is sitting down again.

After Buckbeak is released, a crow lands on Cornelius Fudge's top-hat. The Minister raises a hand to scare it off, but in the next shot, Fudge seems unaware of the crow, as both his arms are to his side.

The first time Hermione throws the fossil at the pot in Hagrid's hut it breaks differently to the second time she throws it.

Lupin's school-time nickname of 'Moony' is misspelt on the Marauders Map as 'Mooney.' This is an inside joke from visual effects supervisor, Karl Mooney.

Box office

Prisoner of Azkaban has the dubious distinction of being, as of 2010, the lowest-grossing film in the series. It was far from a failure by any means: it generated worldwide box office of US$795 million and is currently ranked the 32nd highest grossing film of all time.[5]